(i) Technical Field
The present invention relates to a document scan management system and, more particularly, to acquisition of document data by means of a document scanning unit such as a scanner.
(ii) Related Art
In recent years, convenience and security of multifunction devices have been improved through addition of functions such as a scanner function, a privacy function, a network function, and the like. Because this increased functionality increases the applications and utility of the devices, it has become common for multifunction devices to be installed at locations other than office environments. For example, a multifunction device provided in a conference room may be used to scan a paper document for distribution to participants in a conference, or to convert the printed data to electronic data for editing. As a result, efficiency in conducting the conference can be increased. In a case where attribute information such as user information of a document owner is to be added to a scanned document which has been read by a scanner or the like and converted into electronic data, the attribute information has heretofore been input from a terminal disposed in combination with the scanner or an attribute sheet in which the attribute information is set is read together with the document scan and the scanned document is associated with the attribute information.
A certain user may wish to upload the scanned document of conference data (a paper document) into his or her personal computer (PC) by means of a multifunction device installed in a conference room in preparation for a conference at another facility of the company at which the user is employed. In this case, the user first obtains digital data for the paper document by means of the scanner function of the multifunction device. Then, the user verifies the model and the network address of the multifunction device, installs on his or her PC a driver usable for that model of multifunction device, and sets the appropriate network address. Furthermore, for security considerations, the user prepares a confidential box in the multifunction device, or obtains information (user ID, password, etc.) required for utilizing an existing confidential box.
However, obtaining appropriate information on the multifunction device, setting up the user's PC, and the like are laborious tasks which are often unrealistic. In addition, there is also a possibility that the user may not be able to properly set up his or her PC because he or she cannot obtain all the required information. For example, in the above-described conference, it can be imagined that the conference participants may wish to extract data from multiple participants, not just the single user described above.
In a conventional system, the user disadvantageously has to repeat operations of inputting and setting the attribute information as required for the multiple sources. An ability to read a document using a scanner function or the like of the multifunction device and to acquire the scanned document data with a simple operation, regardless of location where the reading or the acquisition is performed, would advantageously enhance user convenience.